The present invention relates to the milking of milk-producing animals, such as cows. More particularly, the invention relates to a method of milking such animals and to apparatus for carrying out the method.
In accordance with a known milking system, teat cups are applied to the teats of the animal's udder, and suction is intermittently applied to the teats via these cups. This causes streams of milk to issue from the milk orifices at the tips of the teats, and such streams are then combined and conveyed to a milk collecting vessel. A concurrently flowing stream of air entrains and accelerates the combined milk stream in a direction toward the collecting vessel.
Each change of pressure in the teat cups (i.e., a change from application to termination of suction) entials a propogation of suction toward the region where the individual milk streams issue from the teats. This tends to draw milk particles back into contact with the tips of the respective teats; a phenomenon which is highly undesirable because it may lead to entry of bacteria through the milk orifices. The just discussed back-spray problem is alleviated by the establishment of the concurrent air stream, especially in milking machines which apply a constant suction to the tips of the teats, but it is not entirely eliminated, particularly not in those milking machines in which the diaphragm in the teat cup intermittently interrupts the application of suction to the entire teat.